Porter Health Care System Celebrates Engineering Week

Porter-Health-Care-System-Celebrates-Engineering-WeekEngineering Week recognizes the contributions of healthcare engineers in keeping facilities operational, safe and efficient. This year, Engineering Week was celebrated at Porter Health Care System, honoring its team of 22 associates.

From the highest point of the roof to the basement floor, Porter’s Engineering Department oversees it all. Porter’s Engineering Department consists of two main teams, Engineering and

Bio-Med. “The role of Engineering is to meet the needs of the facility from a physical plant perspective,” said Director of Engineering Chris Goss. “Bio-Med maintains all of the medical equipment in the hospital. Engineering is responsible for everything from plunging all the toilets and fixing all of the light bulbs to all large and small construction projects.”

According to Goss, Engineering is a 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week, 365 days a year role. “If a patient’s bed is not functioning properly, Engineering fixes it. When the air filters in the massive filtration system need to be changed, Engineering is on it. If the power goes out, it’s Engineering’s responsibility to ensure the three massive generators kick on and function properly within in a second or two, in order to limit interruption to patient services,” said Goss.

“In some aspect, our engineers touch everything that makes the hospital run,” shared Facilities Manager Jayna Lasky. “The heavy equipment, HVAC system, chillers, boilers, you name it. We’re the guts down here.”

Although the Valparaiso campus is the largest in the system, it is not the only focus of the Engineering Department. “We take care of all of the facilities associated with Porter Health Care System,” Goss said. “Our goal is to meet the ever-increasing demand of the facilities, be it the addition of new locations or maintaining the existing ones. That care, in addition to the completion of all the large and small construction projects is what we work towards, to help increase the ability of the health care system to take care of its patients.”

To read stories about Porter associates going above and beyond, visit porterhealth.com/about/high-performing-associates.

Porter Health Care System has two hospital campuses and seven outpatient facilities serving Porter, Lake, LaPorte, Starke, Newton, Marshall and Jasper counties. With more than 350 physicians representing 50 medical specialties on the medical staff, Porter Health Care System is committed to medical excellence and personalized, patient-centered care.